Abstract
Central Asia is a vital link in the huge Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that follows much of the ancient Silk Road routes in this region. Other than the economic expansion and trade benefits associated with this complex infrastructure system, little is known about the many of the exogenous issues and direct environmental and socioeconomic impacts surrounding the BRI in Central Asia. This opinion paper takes a sharper look at some of these externalities and potential effects through a sustainability lens. Major environmental concerns focus on the proliferation of spur roads that will develop off upgraded or new Belt Roads to promote exploitation of natural resources. Steep, high-elevation landscapes in the Pamirs and Tien Shan pose problems for road location and construction, and the history of road building in less formidable terrain in Yunnan, China is unsustainable, leading to epic landslide and gully erosion, which degrade river systems. Furthermore, many socioeconomic issues may arise like debt dependencies of poor countries, spread of communicable diseases into remote communities, depletion of mineral resources, and implicit compliance with pro-China policies. While some of the poorer post-Soviet nations can reap short-term benefits from BRI plans, it is urged that they assess the long-term sustainability of BRI development and play an active role in determining the conditions for implementation.
Highlights
Common perceptions of the Silk Road evoke nostalgic images of caravans transporting silk, spices, precious gems, and other trade items from China to the Roman and Persian Empires beginning in the 1st Century BC
Recent studies have noted that Central Asia played a more significant role than previously thought in the development of earlier Silk Road routes due to the interactions among nomadic pastoralists, early political structures in the Tarim Basin, and the Han Dynasty [1,2]
Evidence of this spread has been uncovered along the ancient Silk Road routes with the overall impacts resulting in the deaths of at least 30 million people, including about 30–50% of the European population in a 5-yr period [3,4]
Summary
Common perceptions of the Silk Road evoke nostalgic images of caravans transporting silk, spices, precious gems, and other trade items from China to the Roman and Persian Empires beginning in the 1st Century BC. A very dark impact emerged during the mid-14th Century when the Black Death plague, caused by rodents hosting the deadly bacterium Yersinia pestis, spread from near or within China through the Caucasus into Europe3 Evidence of this spread has been uncovered along the ancient Silk Road routes with the overall impacts resulting in the deaths of at least 30 million people, including about 30–50% of the European population in a 5-yr period [3,4]. In the mid-15th Century, the Ottoman Empire boycotted trade with the west, closing Silk Road routes and prompting European traders to navigate by sea to the east during the Age of Discovery. In light of these unstable conditions adjacent to Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and the Wakhan corridor of Afghanistan, it is relevant to note that in addition to the recent Chinse crackdown on Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, which prompted a formal expression of concern by the United Nations Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination in August 2018 and several legislative hearings in the United States, there is a contemporary history of repression and violence dating back to 1931 [10,11]
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